Herring inducted into Heritage Hall of Honor

Herring

An Amarillo historical figure gained a new distinction with the opening of the 2012 State Fair of Texas at Fair Park in Dallas.

The fair’s Texas Heritage Hall of Honor inducted the late Cornelius Taylor Herring and four other prominent Texans distinguished for their contributions to agriculture and ranching, according to information from the fair. The ceremony took place Friday at Adolphus Hotel.

Herring, a native Texan, was a pioneer cattleman, banker and oilman who was involved in the first natural gas well in the Texas Panhandle, state fair information said.

Herring, who died in 1931, had Comanche Chief Quanah Parker among his circle of friends and partners in cattle and horse ventures. He was the first president of the Tri-State Fair and West Texas Chamber of Commerce.

The businessman, dubbed “Colonel” by childhood friends, also built one of the three high-rise hotels constructed in the city during the oil-boom era. The Herring Hotel at 311 S.E. Third Ave. opened Dec. 31, 1926. It stands 14 stories and contained the Old Tascosa Room, a popular watering hole for ranchers and oil men in its heyday.

A development team is attempting to transform the vacant Herring Hotel into a mixed-use property of hotel rooms and apartments — a project estimated at $35.5 million, developer Bob Gallup said in August.

Other members inducted Friday included:

■ Henry M. Beachell of Pearland, a Texas and U.S. Department of Agriculture researcher who created and introduced nine rice varieties. Beachell’s work with high-yielding rice varieties helped alleviate human hunger throughout the world. Beachell received the 1996 World Food Prize, often considered a Nobel Prize in food and agriculture. He died in 2006.

■ John S. Cargile of San Angelo, who served as president of the Texas and Southwestern Cattle Raisers Association, the Texas Sheep and Goat Raisers Association and the American Sheep Industry Association. Cargile died in 2011.

■ Bill Sims of Paint Rock, who received the 1996 Texas A&M Distinguished Texan in Agriculture Award. He served as a Texas state senator for 14 years.

■ Svante Magnus “S.M.” Swenson, a merchant and banker who emigrated from Sweden to the United States in 1836. He purchased large land tracts in West Texas in 1854, later leasing the southern lands to his sons to begin a Swenson Bros. ranching operation. Swenson died in 1896.